Everything about Markandeya totally explained
Markandeya (
Sanskrit: मार्कण्डेय) is an ancient
rishi (sage) from the
Hindu tradition, born in the clan of
Brigu Rishi. He is celebrated as a devotee of both
Shiva and
Vishnu and is mentioned in a number of stories from the
Puranas. The
Markandeya Purana especially, comprises a dialogue between Markandeya and a sage called
Jaimini and a number of chapters in the
Bhagavata Purana are dedicated to his conversations and prayers. He is also mentioned in the
Mahabharata. Markandeya is venerated within
Vaishnava,
Shaivite and
Shakta traditions.
Rescued by Lord Shiva
One legend relates the story of how Shiva protected Markandeya from the clutches of death. (
Yama):
Mrikandu Munivar and his wife
Marudmati worshipped Shiva and sought from him the boon of begetting a son. As a result he was given the choice of either a gifted son, but with a short life on earth or a child of low intelligence but with a long life. Mrikandu Munivar chose the former, and was blessed with Markandeya, an exemplary son, destined to die at the age of 16.
Markandeya grew up to be a great
devotee of Shiva and on the day of his destined death he continued his worship of Shiva in his form of
Shivalingam. The messengers of Yama, the
god of death were unable to take away his life because of his great devotion and continual worship of Shiva. Yama then came himself in person to take Markandeya's life away and sprung his noose around the young sage's neck. By accident of fate the noose mistakenly landed around the Shivalingam, and out of it, Shiva emerged in all his fury attacking Yama for his act of aggression. After defeating Yama in battle to the point of
death, Shiva then revived him, under the condition that the devout youth would live
forever. For this act, Shiva was thereafter known also as
Kaalakalaya, meaning 'one who brought death, to death himself'.
Thus Maha Mrityunjaya Stotra is also attributed to Markandeya, and this legend of Shiva conquering death is inscribed in metal and worshiped at Tirukkadavur in
Tamilnadu, India. A similar account is also given in
Narasimha Purana, although in that version Markandeya is rescued by
Vishnu after he recites the
Mrityunjaya Stotra.
Eternal life
Another story which deals with Markandeya's long life gives an account of how he lived past the death of the previous world and watched it end.
Bhagavata Purana
A tale from the
Bhagavata Purana states that when the earth was about to be engulfed by water, Markandeya prayed to Vishnu to rescue him. Vishnu appeared in the form of a child floating on a leaf, and declared to the sage that he was
Time and
Death. He requested the sage to enter into his mouth and save himself from the surging water. The sage entered inside the mouth of Vishnu, and saw inside Vishnu the entire
cosmos, all the
gods and deities. The sage came out after some time, Vishnu was still floating seated on the leaf.
Markandeya Purana
The
Devi Mahatmya section of the Markandeya Purana is one of the most important texts of Shakti tradition.
Films on Markandeya
Further Information
Get more info on 'Markandeya'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://markandeya.totallyexplained.com">Markandeya Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
